


Yellow

by unknowableroom_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drama, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-10-07
Updated: 2007-10-07
Packaged: 2019-01-19 14:53:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12412452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknowableroom_archivist/pseuds/unknowableroom_archivist
Summary: Almost sixteen years later she sits down and opens the drawer. She remembers once again. Her love affair with yellow. The color of her hair, the brightness of flowers, the shade of his eyes, and the glow of their souls.





	Yellow

**Author's Note:**

> Note from ChristyCorr, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Unknowable Room](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Unknowable_Room), a Harry Potter archive active from 2005-2016. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after May 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Unknowable Room collection profile](http://www.archiveofourown.org/collections/unknowableroom).

  
**YELLOW.**

She loved yellow. First off, it's the color of her hair. The one thing she really loved about herself. She'd eat lemons because they were yellow and when she went to the dentist they berate her. Something about enamel, but she never remembered. It's not worth it. Because she feels like she's taking a bite out of the color she was so in love with. If yellow tasted like lemons then she thinks she's just like it, bright and charming on the outside and sour and pungent on the inside.

As a child she only ever chewed the yellow gum balls. Wore yellow jumpers, yellow trainers with yellow shoelaces. She begged her father and mother to let her paint her room yellow. She remembered that when her little sister had been born she was disappointed her hair was not the same color as hers. So she slipped a yellow ribbon around her head and wrapped her in her favorite yellow blanket.

She doted on Lily when she was a child. She thought her as bright as the sunshine. She told her off when she did the things their mother told them not to and she criticized her for hanging around with the Snape boy. When Lily began to giggle she smiled a little before scowling again. Lily never seemed to have to worry. She was like fire with her dark red hair all aglow in the sunlight. She was so determined and relentless. 

"Tuney! Tuney! You know you're just like the sun. You know that?"

Lily randomly bursts out into "You Are My Sunshine" whenever she is in an affectionate mood. She'd pluck a yellow tulip give it to Petunia and kiss her on top of her head. She looks at her then turns to the sun wondering if she is as bright. Often times, Lily would start squealing and screaming and covering her eyes to stop her. Other times, Lily takes Petunias hand in her own and leads her back into the house. 

She remembers when they started fighting and how when Lily came home she teased her. In the cruelest of ways. How she was never spectacular like her or special like her. How if she _were_ to go to Hogwarts, she still remembers the name, Hufflepuff because their house colors were yellow and black. Unbeknownst to her, Lily thinks her just as cruel as she is. Petunia with her snide remarks and nasty looks, Lily with her taunts and stories. She remembers how Lily would still write to her and in each letter she'd end her letter with something that was yellow.

She remembers when she met Vernon and how when she first kissed him she last remembers looking at the yellow street lamp. Her wedding came oh so soon. Her invitations were yellow and her something blue was yellow instead. She remembers how Lily snickered and rolled her eyes over her yellow bridesmaid dress and grudgingly wore it. All Petunia could do was grin because for one moment she could put aside her anger with Lily. She remembers her cake was lemon and her frosting was yellow. Vernon dotes on her and her strange obsession with yellow. He loves her so, even though she, nor anyone else she thinks, can understand why.

She remembers when Lily brought him home for the first time ever. She helped her mother prepare dinner. The boy with the messy black hair and the round, rimmed glasses as he pushes a dozen daffodils into her face and he grins at her. Lily right behind him looking at him so affectionately. 

"I told him that you were in love with yellow."

Lily says with the most indescribable look on her face. She looks into his eyes behind the glasses and she sees his eyes have the most beautiful flecks of gold in them. At a first glance they almost take the shade of champagne. She looked at them sitting across from her. She didn't feel the least envious at all. Lily, the golden child. Petunia, the yellow child. The one who was too bright to be gold, but still doesn't shine as brightly. 

Time goes by. They get married. She realizes that their souls burn so brightly that she swears she can see a glow. Like the one from the candle she's lit or the bulb on a Christmas tree. She gets pregnant and Lily does to soon after. Petunia gives birth to her son. She's so enthralled to see that he's blonde, that she lets Vernon name him Dudley, after his father. 

Christmas comes. She's wrapping the gift she's sending Lily and James. A yellow vase. Then the news comes. Vernon bends down gently to where she's sitting and rubs her back gently telling her the verdict. Her mother has died. Pneumonia. She turns her head, bites her lip as the tears begin to fall. This isn't even the worse. She's going to have to be the one to tell Lily. Someone has to be strong.

Her father leaves them soon afterwards and not long after that. Lily leaves her to. She went to the funeral and the only thing she remembers is going home and sitting at her vanity. She opens the drawer and starts to put everything away. Pressed flowers, a ribbon, a ring with a yellow stone, a marble, and Lily's letters. Her love affair with yellow is over.

But almost sixteen years later she sits down and opens the drawer. She puts them all in a box and gets ready to leave. She knows she'll be leaving this time. Vernon may be indecisive but the danger is apparent now. So as she sits readying herself to heed her nephew's warnings. She remembers once again. Her love affair with yellow. 

**Yellow**. 

The color of her hair, the brightness of flowers, the shade of his eyes, and the glow of their souls.  



End file.
